Artem Lobov not happy with loss, but 'if (fans) were entertained, then the night was a success'

NASHVILLE – Artem Lobov may have ended UFC Fight Night 108’s headliner with a loss, but he also walked away with a “Fight of the Night” bonus and some newfound respect after hanging with 6-1 betting favorite Cub Swanson for five rounds.

However, as glad as Lobov was to put on a crowd-pleaser, the consolation prizes didn’t entirely make up for its outcome. Speaking backstage after Saturday’s unanimous decision loss to Swanson (25-7 MMA, 10-3 UFC), a visibly disappointed Lobov (13-13-1 MMA, 2-3 UFC) made it clear he didn’t get what he wanted out of the scrap.

“You win or you lose – that’s it,” Lobov said. “I came to win, so … I don’t feel great, but what are you going to do? This is the fight game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. What else can I say?”

The featherweight bout was the main event of the UFC Fight Night 108 event at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The main card aired on FS1 following prelims on FS2 and UFC Fight Pass.

Lobov said he wasn’t surprised by any of Swanson’s creative moves since he’d prepared for a “hell of a fight” against an opponent who “always does that crazy (expletive).” Looking back, he believes the energy spent after Swanson took him down and got ahold of his back may have slowed him down after a first round that he – as well as two judges – thought Lobov won. Ultimately, the “The Russian Hammer” admitted, Swanson was just the better man.

The nasty cut above his swollen eye, Lobov said, was nothing. And, though he’d just started really feeling the pain in his foot due to a number of checked kicks, he says he never came close to feeling like he was about to be finished.

“Born in Russia, forged in Ireland – they don’t make them like this anymore,” Lobov said. “I can take a shot, that’s for sure.”

“I have enough confidence,” Lobov said. “Every time I step in there, even if there’s a gorilla in front of me, I think I can win. I step in there, I’m 100 percent sure I can win, and I go for the win.

“Sometimes I come up short, but what are you going to do? But I don’t need any more confidence, I have all the confidence in the world.”

While the outcome was obviously not what he wanted, Lobov does take solace in one thing.

“I hope it was a good fight for the fans,” Lobov said. “At the end of the day, fans make the show. If there’s no one watching, then there’s no one paying, and we don’t earn any money. Then what’s the point? This is the whole point: entertain the fans.

“This is an entertainment business. If they were entertained, then the night was a success.”

The members of the UFC brass can’t speak for all fans, but they believed the scrap was exciting enough to earn “Fight of the Night” honors – and, therefore, an added $50,000 in each of the headliners’ bank accounts. Lobov still has no plans for the extra check, but he does seem to plan on keeping them coming.

“I’m right on track,” Lobov said. “I was actually surprised I didn’t get one earlier, as in I wasn’t able to perform to that level. Because before the UFC, I used to get ‘Fights of the Night’ all the time. Literally, any show I’d be on, it’d be ‘Fight of the Night.’

“So I was expecting to have a lot more of them by this time. But that was a good time to start … keep it that way.”